Summary

The speaker begins by asking how she can find her way in the "strange labyrinth" where she has found herself (1). There are many different possibilities for how she can "turn" (2). Love is on her right, waiting to consume her in its flames, while an unspecified danger lies ahead. To the left, she finds "suspicion" threatening her love, but she is ashamed at the idea of giving up and turning back (5). She concludes that no matter what she does – going left or right, forward or back, or even standing still – she is certain to have doubts, which no one can help her with. However, she concludes that she must "leave all" and trust in love to guide her (13).

Analysis

Lady Mary Wroth’s sonnet sequence is a complex and highly constructed work, in which many different short poems join together in patterns that comment on...